I am an evil giraffe. But I'm trying, Nick. I'm trying REAL HARD to be the wizard.

Starting with the background: AR-01 is one of those districts that is… interesting. It is currently rated as R +8 in the Cook Political Report, but is held by a soi-disant ‘Blue Dog Democrat': in this case, Marion Berry. Berry has been in that seat since 1997: he won the 2006 election with 69% of the vote; and he was unopposed in 2008.
However, he will not be unopposed this term. Rick Crawford is going to be challenging him; it’s reported that the NRCC is looking at him as part of their planned campaign against selected ‘Blue Dogs’ that did not get challenged in the last election cycle. Rick is a business owner (AG Watch, a radio agricultural network) and military veteran (Army, bomb disposal) with strong roots in the area; he’s pro-life, pro-Tea Party, ready to run on an agricultural platform and is just as exceptionally happy to see the back of Arlen Specter as most of the people reading this, particularly after what Specter did to Kemp’s memory.

The NRCC is taking a challenge to this district seriously, and it’s no surprise why: while Barry has been comfortably winning elections lately – and didn’t have a challenger last cycle – the district itself has shifted on the national level (Gore in ’00, Bush in ’04, McCain in ’08). Plus there’s the entire agricultural subsidy thing, which Berry is notorious for (and, apparently, has set up an arrangement to allow himself to continue to benefit from personally). Then there’s the ongoing neutering of the Blue Dogs in general; as this NRCC radio ad (H/T: ARRA News Service) points out, Barry’s voting for what Pelosi’s proposing.

As noted above, Rick’s website is here, this is his current donation link, and here’s his Facebook page. We will no doubt see more campaign-related items as time goes on.

8 Comments

AR-2 is represented by Democrat Vic Snyder, also elected in 1996. According to the Cook PVI information on wiki, AR-2 is R+5, somewhat less than Berry’s R=8. Still, I’m thinking that Snyder almost as vulnerable as Berry. McCain carried the district with almost 54% of the vote, again slighter lower than the numbers in AR-1, but still respectable.

AR-4 is much closer to Berry’s numbers than Snyder’s. Per wiki, again, Ross, Democrat, represents a district with a Cook PVI of R+7, and which McCain carried with 58.14% of the vote.

Arkansas has simply been ignored by Republicans. I see three Democrats who are vulnerable. After all, if all those Christians in Arkansas can elect Kris Allen “American Idol”, I don’t see why two or all three of the Democrats can’t be removed (/snark).